2.5 stars
Miss Joan Bennet is dangerously close to being on the shelf, and the only thing close to romance she is experiencing is in literary form. Her mother keeps dressing her in the height of fashion, yet her with her tall, curvy figure, she looks like an idiot. At social gatherings and balls, she’s a constant wallflower. She’d love to be noticed, by anyone at all. Except possibly Lord Tristan Burke, her brother’s best friend and a notorious rake. Lord Burke thinks Joan is a bossy Fury, who’s made it her life’s mission to torment her brother as much as possible. But when Joan’s parents have to go to the seaside for Joan’s mother to convalesce, and Joan’s brother is sent away to see to repairs on the family estate, he asks Lord Burke to make sure Joan stays out of trouble.
Joan’s eccentric and slightly scandalous aunt comes to stay with her, and soon Joan has a new and improved wardrobe which flatters her rather than makes her look like a gaudy umbrella. Lord Burke, who has already discovered that the best way to shut his best friend’s bossy and opinionated sister up is by kissing her senseless, is suddenly starting to consider whether he may not have to change his mind about what a chore it is to have to entertain her while her family are out of town. Full review on my blog.
Charles de Lacey had a massive falling out with his father, the Duke of Durham, because when he was 22, Charlie wanted to marry a penniless girl of unsuitable family, and his father made sure the marriage never happened. Now Charlie’s father is dead, and he discovers that the late duke also had a youthful indiscretion, but that said impulsive marriage may cost Charles his title as duke, and make him and his younger brothers illegitimate. While his two brothers initially started trying to sort out the whole scandal, one through legal means and the other by tracking down the blackmailer, they’ve both gone and fallen madly in love with their new wives, demanding that Charlie himself save the ducal title, his estates and their fortunes.
Gerard de Lacey may be declared illegitimate because of a clandestine marriage his father, the recently deceased Duke of Durham, entered into in his youth, before he married Gerard’s mother. A year before his death, the Duke started receiving letters blackmailing him. Now the London gossips won’t stop talking about the “Durham Dilemma”, his brother Edward is busy trying to prove their legitimacy through legal means, and his older brother Charlie, the heir, is mainly staying far away from the whole business. Gerard thinks the best way of solving the situation is tracking down the blackmailer. He also plans on finding himself a rich wife as soon as possible, so that he can secure his future, even if the scandal is not resolved in the de Lacey brothers’ favour.
First of all, I have no idea what the heck is going on with the cover of this one. God knows what she’s actually doing, my husband has several theories, but all of them pretty much qualify in the NSFW category, so we’ll just leave it at that. Covers like these make me so very happy that I have an e-reader, because while I’m really not at all ashamed to admit that I enjoy romance novels, and read a lot of them, this is just not a cover I would want to display while on public transport on my way to work and back every day.
Cannonball Read V 